Pre-Paris

This week has been incredibly busy for me!

I'll be flying off to Paris this Sunday so I've just been really busy shopping for stuff that I need on my trip, meeting friends, and spending time with T and my family before I leave.

I don't want to forget what I did so I'm just gonna list down the highlights of my week!

1) Hike
I went for a 3 hour hike at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve with Xm! It was totally unplanned, we only expected to hike for half an hour to one hour but we were lost inside! Kept making wrong turns and we ended up taking all the paths we didn't intend to take, walking deeper / in circles until we finally got on a path that led us out. Thank goodness we didn't meet a snake, though we saw monkeys, an iguana, and millions of bugs, which is more than enough wildlife for me hahaha.

It was fun though :) The weather was quite perfect and it was a good workout for us because we forgot to bring insect repellant so we didn't stop moving!! That's Xm in the photo above, she kinda looks like her other leg was amputated hahahaha. There were steps but most of the paths were soil / rocks and quite slippery and uneven. Never imagined I was the kind of person who would enjoy such activities, but it's probably cos I was with Xm. We hadn't hung out for the longest time so we had sooo much to talk about, which probably distracted us from the endless walking.

After our hike we went to Baker and Cook for tea, unfortunately I didn't take any photos because at this time I was soooo tired I just wanted to sit down and not move!! It's quite a cute place though, all their pastries look amazingly fresh and appealing.

2) Dinner with D
Met up with D for dinner and we initially wanted to eat at a nice place and treat ourselves to a good meal, but we couldn't think of any place to go!!! Ended up at Chomp Chomp for a mega pig out session.

We had carrot cake and BBQ chicken wings (in the photo above), and also oyster omelette, sambal stingray and a large sugar cane juice to share! YUM :)

After all this time I still marvel at how D and I made the decision to go to New York City last summer, and how it really catalyzed our friendship. I think because of our NYC adventure, I knew she was a friend to keep :) so thankful for her in my life!!!

3) Dinner with T
We were craving a good chicken rice (T's favorite chicken rice is from Maxwell Food Center), but the usual one (my favorite: Wee Nam Kee) we go to near our house has shifted :( So we decided to try this other place near my house and it was quite satisfying! Not the best, but definitely good enough to satisfy a craving :)

I also realized that my family used to go to this chicken rice place when I was little, and I can't believe it's still standing at the very same spot! Everything was so familiar when I had dinner there, though I hadn't actually stepped in for what must be...10 years maybe?

4) Tea time
I met Xm again, this time for tea at TWG! I looove their tea but honestly it's overpriced :( the pastries are so pathetic. We had a set that comes with tea, finger sandwiches and pastries but the portion was so small!!!! So not worth it, I'm so disappointed with TWG :(

But Xm and I had a great time anyway, so thank goodness for that! Time with her is like never enough, we always have so so so much to talk about!!

5) Family Dinner
My parents decided to treat my entire extended family to dinner this evening! It was such a beautiful evening: the light was amazing and the cafe was overlooking the golf course and it somehow just looked so pretty!!

Garden dinner

T was also invited and we had a super good catch up with all my favorite cousins and my sister :) after dinner they all decided to go for karaoke LOL such a random old-school activity!! It was quite fun though, and I'm thankful for such a close-knit family.

On a sidenote, I love how T clicks so easily with my family and relatives. I also love that they really respect him, and respect us as a couple, because we've been together for... *wait for it*... 50 months now!!!

6) Supper at Kok Kee
T finally brought all his church friends to try out his favorite Wanton Mee at Lavender Food Center! I can't believe we just sat there for 3 hours and talked non-stop!! We even had to buy a second round of drinks because we were all so thirsty from talking and laughing hahahaha. One of the better nights I've had in awhile :)

Sunset: 24th May 2013

Okay okay I've finally reached the end of my post!! Thank you dear friend for reading it, I salute you for making it this far hahaha. I'm signing off with a photo of the beautiful sunset we caught today :') I just wanna say that I'm so blessed and so thankful for all the wonderful and loving people in my life. Couldn't have asked for a better week with everyone :')

Ramen Santouka

T and I were craving a good ramen so he decided to bring me to Ramen Santouka!

We took suchhhh a long time to decide what to do that when we finally went out for dinner, we only arrived at around 9pm hahahaha oops who eats dinner past 9??

Mine and T's!

I had a Shoyu ramen and he had a Char Siu ramen, both of which were really good. We were really impressed by the flavorful soup and we both fell quiet as we stopped talking and devoured our food. The pork was really disappointing though :( it was too tough!!! Poor T had to watch me gnawing unglamorously at the meat :(

T's ramen up close!

He ordered a large size and I got the medium for myself, because we were quite hungry and T has a huge appetite!! But we were struggling to finish our noodles and there was still so much left :/ I don't know what possessed me to order a medium size sigh, I should've known the limits of my tummy, especially since we also ordered a BBQ pork bun each!

My ramen + pork bun

So that's the pork bun, kinda looks like the Chinese kung ba pao! It's really really yummy, the meat wasn't very tender either but the sauce more than made up for it! It's also served with a mini-sized cup of tea, which tastes like a normal Chinese tea.

Apparently there's some debate about the best ramen in town, and though I really like this place, my vote is still for Ippudo. I have yet to find a place that serves tastier soup and better ramen noodles than Ippudo! Ippudo's meat is also spot on - tender, juicy, delicious. They also serve a pork bun that looks exactly like the bun in the photo above (minus the tea), which is equally delicious, especially the one in New York (Ippudo NY).

After dinner, T and I were really stuffed. We decided to talk a walk around Clarke Quay, our first time in ages! Wow the place was so vibrant and you'll be hardpressed to find yourself immune to the energy! We both agreed that the nightlife in our country is quite successful hehe. Blasted Avicii and Zedd in the car afterwards ;)

We didn't manage to catch a movie this weekend so T took me out for a drive! Ended up visiting his workplace because I'd never seen it before hehe I can finally picture what he does on weekdays!! We wanted to do night cycling but the bike rentals were closed. It might've been a blessing in disguise because we ended up taking a stroll through East Coast Park :)

Hahahaha actually it probably just sounds like we ran out of things to do on date nights!! We have a list of new places to explore and new things to try out, but sometimes we're so lazy and it's just nice to have a slow and relaxing night you know? :)

Scones :)

I absolutely loooove scones. Love how they are crumbly and slightly crispy on the outside, and moist and soft on the inside. Love how it tastes like bread and biscuit at the same time, and I especially love the buttermilk taste! I can eat scones plain, I don't need jam or butter because the plain taste is what I love hahaha.

Unfortunately, I can't find any plain scones around! I've searched in every cafe and coffee joint I've been to, but most don't serve scones. When they do, it's always raisin scones ugh! Whoever invented raisins and incorporated them into food will definitely not be thanked by me!! (If you can't already tell, I really hate raisins hahaha)

So I've been itching to bake something for awhile now, and I've been looking at recipes and thinking about what I can make. Then it hit me: why not make my own plain scones?

I immediately went about looking for the best recipes and buying ingredients. My mom was actually really skeptical of me going into the kitchen and I think she probably secretly thought I would fail... in fact when I was kneading my dough I was feeling quite sad because I changed up quite a few things in the recipe and I kept obsessing over the mistakes that I thought I had already made. But I prayed that it wouldn't be a disaster, so thank you Lord :)

I was really excited and I kept checking the oven!! Every time I bake something, the most excruciating part is waiting for the final product to materialize in the often and waiting for it to cool down after I take it out hahaha.

Ta-dah! Out of the oven

I used a non-stick pan which I adoreee because it's so easy to remove whatever I'm baking!!

Raisin-less buttermilk scones :)

Close-up

When I ate one I was expecting a really bad taste, but to my surprise it was quite the taste I've been missing and looking for! I thought maybe I was biased so I called my mom and my helper to try one each, and they both said the scones were delicious :)

I also let T try one, and I thought he would be the ultimate taste test because he dislikes scones very much. He ended up having two!! He told me they were delicious, but I think he's secretly biased :)

So the moral of the story is: Anybody can bake, if you really put your heart into it!!! I am entirely undomestic and I'm really handicapped in the kitchen, but I can't believe I managed to produce these scones with my bare hands from scratch :') they really did satisfy my craving for raisin-less buttermilk scones!

Stay tuned for more of my baking adventures! ;)

P.S. Leave a comment if you want the recipe :)

Marmalade Pantry

Ion is probably T's and my favorite shopping mall. It has everything we love, except a cinema hahaha. So can you imagine, even without a cinema, we still go there almost once every week! Went there again for a weekday date night :)

Probably the only thing we don't like about Ion is that there is a lack of chic food places. We always end up eating at Itacho or we'd probably just get out of Ion to eat. I love Canton-i but T thinks it's overpriced! And I don't like the Food Opera because I think that's overpriced haha. So we ended up at Marmalade Pantry.

T had the Crabmeat Linguine, which was quite yummy! Some people tell me it's the best crabmeat pasta they've had but nope it's too watery for me. The best crabmeat pasta I've ever had is either from Da Paolo or Forlino! They use tagliolini and the sauces are much better there. Anyway the one at Marmalade Pantry is still quite good cos it has an abundance of real actual crabmeat and not like faux crab or crabsticks so it's still worth it for the price!

Crabmeat Linguine

T always orders cookies and cream / oreo milkshake whenever he sees it on the menu... it's his weakness!! The one at Marmalade Pantry isn't thick enough I feel, but it's still good! I love the cookie taste. You can kinda see it at the corner in the photo below hehe. The best Oreo milkshake we've ever had is from P.S. Cafe :) it is deliciously thick and creamy, almost like drinking ice cream! And it's topped with an Oreo cookie. No wonder it's the best!! Hahaha

Dinner time :)

I had the Pantry Club sandwich which was reaaaally good. I think when my food came T's eyes popped hahaha, it looked so appealing!!  It's quite a simple chicken ham egg sandwich and it comes with a side of like... healthy vegetable chips? I don't quite know how to describe the chips but you can see it from the photo above and below! I really love the chips!!! As usual, I couldn't finish it and I knew T was eyeing my food so he managed to snag a sandwich from me :)

The Pantry Club - YUM!

At this point we were already quite full but greedy us decided to order dessert - Caramelized Pear and Salted Caramel Bread Pudding! The bread pudding is wrapped in some kind of crispy filo pastry and okay wow it was so yummy!!! T and I didn't expect it to be so good but we demolished it in seconds. That's also why there is no picture because we kinda just attacked it.


I love my date nights with T :) he was not feeling very well so I just kept talking non-stop to entertain him. I think this week we accidentally spent more time together than usual but it just amazes me how we never ever get bored :)

One thing I really love about T is that he is always always overwhelmingly on my side. I mean like when I encounter someone nasty or something that I dislike, he always stands behind me and supports me!! He's so protective of me and I feel so lucky to have him. Hehe okay end of cheesy love-struck paragraph!! Till next time! ;)

Star Trek: Into Darkness

T and I love watching movies. We don't ever miss blockbusters and we almost always watch movies the first weekend they're released! Profits made from ticket sales to us probably secretly drives the movie industry....hahahaha.

To elaborate, the past few weeks we've already seen Ironman 3, Oblivion, Olympus has Fallen, The Croods, and even...Saving General Yang. So the latest movie that we've just seen is Star Trek: Into Darkness. And we're already looking forward to catching Fast and Furious 6 this weekend!! Can someone please find us a cheaper date night activity??

At the mention of Ironman I have no choice but to gush about him. I really love Ironman he's like my favorite superhero EVER!! Idk if it's the fake technology of the suits or how badass he is, but mostly I think it's just because it's Robert Downey Jr hahahaha. I loved all the suits in this latest movie and I can't wait to see him in Avengers 2!! He's just so cool and I wish he was my brother or something. So he'd have no choice but to protect me and love me LOL.

Anyway, I remember when T sent me home after the show I was eagerly proclaiming "Ironman is my favoriteee" when he reminded me that my favorite was actually Wolverine :( oops. I'm sorry Wolverine :( actually I can't decide, I'll probably like Wolverine more after I watch the movie this summer because I love Hugh Jackman and Wolverine also seems less flamboyant and arrogant than Ironman.

Oh man! I apologize for the long digression about my favorite non-existent characters :'( and I thank you for reading it if you did!! Now on to the point of this post....

We loved Star Trek!! Honestly neither of us are avid followers of the Star Trek franchise but I remember T dragged me to watch the previous one just cos he thought it'd be cool, and I remember it was not bad. I also love Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine so there wasn't much resistance from me teehee.

Star Trek: Into Darkness was really good. In terms of plot I think it's better than Ironman 3, and coming from me the Ironman-lover, it's as unbiased an opinion as you'll get!

I generally don't like sci-fi and aliens because they always look very preposterous to me. But I didn't cringe much! The movie was really exciting and though on hindsight we found some loopholes, during the show we were riveted. Like when I watch movies, I think I'm usually so absorbed that I forget my own existence? Do you know what I mean? It's like if someone next to me coughs it'll almost be like I'm jolted out of a dream or something. Maybe that's why I love watching them cos it's like an escape!

T and I also loved the bad guy, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. I feel like he acted really well!!

Benedict Cumberbatch (credits to GQ)

So anyway, if you're deciding whether you want to watch it, it's really quite good :) it's entertaining and it doesn't matter if you don't know anything about Star Trek because it's quite easy to catch up! Initially when the show started T and I were extremely confused for a good 15-20 minutes, but after that we were totally sold. Star Trek's probably the best show we've seen recently!

Mother's Day

This past weekend has been really busy but really fun!!! :) Most of it was spent celebrating Mother's Day with my family.

One of my parents' all time favorite food is Chili Crab. We didn't have the foresight to make a reservation and every good restaurant would probably have been overbooked for Mother's Day, so we rushed out of the house for dinner before 6pm haha! Our choice was Jumbo Seafood Restaurant, arguably home to the best chili crab dish, and thank goodness we managed to snag a table! Yayyyyy the stars were certainly aligned for us to have some crab hahaha.

Jumbo Chili Crab + Buns

We had such a delicious meal! Ordered a 1kg crab at first but my mom was so dissatisfied cos there wasn't enough hahaha so we ordered another one. I really do think Jumbo has the best chili crab!! But there are less pricey options, such as from Melben Seafood and Fatty Weng's. I'd say those chili crabs are second best! And I promise you can trust my taste because my family alwaysss eats chili crabs so we are quite discerning!!

The next day, we decided to try out La Pizzaiola, a cute little Italian place recently discovered near my house. We'd thought it wouldn't be too crowded since it's quite secluded but wow their business is so good!! But it's no surprise because their food is really good, and their prices are really affordable considering how good their food is!! My family's favorite pizza place is Spizza, but having discovered this place I think my mom and I like their pizzas more!!

Garlic Bread + Diavola Pizza

Not a very good picture, but I had to show their garlic bread. It's not the usual garlic bread as evident from the picture, but it was still really satisfying! There wasn't a very overpowering taste of garlic on the pizza crust, which allowed us to taste the fragrant and delicious pizza base!! I looove the doughy taste of the pizza, it was so yummy I couldn't stop eating!! We also had the Diavola pizza, with spicy salami and tomato and mozzarella. Can I just say... YUM!!! The garlic bread only cost $6.90? The pizza cost $14.90. So affordable!!!

We also had an Aglio E Olio, which was less impressive, and a Risotto al Funghi, which is one of the better risottos I've ever had :)

But I gotta say, what absolutely sealed the deal for my family was the desserts we had! We had a home-made Pear cake and a Melting Chocolate cake (lava cake) served with vanilla icecream. WOW the pear cake was sooo fluffy and the lava cake was possibly the best I've ever had?? Both weren't overbearingly sweet and the flavors were so balanced, my family was so full but we demolished the cakes within seconds. Just thinking about it makes me drool *_*

So we had an amazing weekend together :) I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family, and so thankful for their relentless love and forgiveness towards me. They really show me what it means to love someone unconditionally, especially my mom. Happy Mother's Day to my mom, and all mothers and mother figures in the world!!!

Mother's Day Cake

P.S. We also managed to get a small cake for my Grandma :) she was so happy!!!

Quayside Isle

Headed to Kith Cafe at Quayside Isle in Sentosa Cove for brunch with D and her boyfriend :)

It was a quiet afternoon and a beautiful start to 3 months of summer holidays!!

Perfect start to summer :)

Do not be deceived by the clouds in the photo though....the weather was unbearably warm! It's a miracle that we even stayed around for 2-3 hours because it was such a hot day?? And most of the cafes are alfresco facing the yachts docked in the cove. I'll admit it's a great view but it was so hot. Sometimes I wish I could walk around in a giant bubble of A/C to turn it on and off whenever I pleased..... This is the 21st century so why hasn't the individual A/C bubble been invented??? Teehee.

Brunch

So as usual, we over-ordered. I had the Big Breakfast which comes with a choice of toast and eggs, plus everything else on the plate. I chose brioche and scrambled eggs! I loooove scrambled eggs and I don't think I've ever chosen anything else when a choice has been involved :) it's just the most perfect most inviting breakfast / brunch food!! I can never get the perfect milky moist scrambled eggs at home though.... can someone please teach me how? It'd save me all the extravagant amounts I pay for brunch hahaha.

Also in the picture, I had a Hazelnut Nutella Milkshake, which wasn't as thick as I prefer my milkshakes to be; and D had Blackstone Poached Eggs, which she says were reallly yummy. Not in the picture: D's boyfriend's salad and chicken curry, and our huge side of truffle fries. Can you imagine, we were sooo full after the meal!!!!

Even though our tummies were bursting, we left Kith Cafe and went on to Sabio by the Sea for desserts hahahaha. I suppose there's always space for dessert! I once heard on the radio: "The space that you always have for dessert......is in your thighs!!!" I laughed but it doesn't affect how I eat. We shared this amazing sea salt caramel lava cake with a side of ice cream! It was divine :) I wanted to try their churros with chocolate sauce but I was too stuffed.... next time with T then ;)

Anyway, Resorts World has had this ongoing promotion for a 3D2N stay and two tickets to Universal Studios, Adventure Cove and SEA Aquarium for $628+. It's pretty amazing!!! D's staying there these two nights and I think it's the perfect getaway without actually having to go overseas.

The view from Hard Rock Hotel

I'm hoping to go overseas with T this summer but I doubt it'll happen because of our conflicting schedules :( so maybe I'll book this 3D2N thing instead? Can't quite decide cos we already went to Universal Studios last summer, and to the Aquarium early this year! Will probably do up posts on USS and the Aquarium in future when I get more comfortable with posting photos of us ;) stay tuned!!

Standing Sushi Bar

This evening, we finally managed to eat at Standing Sushi Bar!

T and I have been eyeing this place ever since we found out about the special 5 for $3 salmon sashimi deal *manic greed evident in our eyes*. We've been dyingggg to go but anyone who's ever been will know, it's really small and fuss-free and the line is really long!! Last week I managed to snag us a reservation and so we finally made it :)

Anyway, T and I loooove salmon sashimi!! I remember on our first date I ordered a plate and let him try, he was soooo repulsed because he hated the raw taste. But he soon acquired the taste for it, and I would like to take credit as the introducer-of-all-good-things to T hehe :) I mean look at him now!! I'm pretty sure a significant portion of his monthly expenditure goes towards supporting his aggressive salmon sashimi diet hahahaha.

5 sets of sashimi...but it wasn't enough HAHA

1/2 the food we ordered, with T cropped out ;)

As usual T and I over-ordered and our bill amounted to ~$80. It didn't turn out to be a cheap meal after all :( We had 5 sets of sashimi at first and this couple next to us kept staring in disbelief. Imagine their shock when we ordered two more sets!!! And btw T's yakiniku don set meal comes with sashimi as well hahaha. Please let there be no side effects of eating too much raw fish!!

Hmmm I would say Standing Sushi Bar is overrated though. Only the salmon sashimi is worth it, but everything else isn't that cheap - their prices are like Sushi Tei's? I guess it wouldn't matter if their food was of good quality because "worth" is more important, but T and I concluded that Sushi Tei's standard is muchhh better, both in terms of food and ambience.

How sad (for them) but we probably won't return :( we've definitely had better sashimi elsewhere!! And for the price I'd rather go to Irodori for better quality. I might be posting about Irodori soon ;) stay tuned!

Gyu-Kaku

Chijmes

I had an amazing dinner last night with T and his family at Gyu Kaku (Chijmes), for an early celebration of T's brother's birthday. Can I just say wow, the wagyu beef was really good *drool* and T and his brother certainly did not hold back when they ordered plate after plate of premium beef parts.

Yes, there was an abundance of beef parts. Last night was my first time eating beef tongue HAHAHA, and what a weird experience that was. I know some people really enjoy eating it.....but honestly don't you wonder who in the right mind discovered that a tongue could even be eaten?? Anyway my verdict: I think it's an acquired taste and the texture is somehow so tongue-like :( or maybe it's just psychological hahaha. But I quite liked it, more than T did anyway!

I would say that I'm quite a fussy eater and I'm quite discerning in my standards, but T is extremely easily satisfied by food. So if he doesn't like the beef tongue.......it must truly be weird hahaha.

Anyway there were loads of other wagyu beef parts, pork belly and chicken that were sooo delicious!!! Also, a shout out to the kimchi soup because WOW it was the best kimchi soup I've ever had!!!! ♥ Sadly, we didn't take any photos because we were sooo hungry we launched ourselves into BBQ-ing and eating as soon as each dish was set down on the table. But I managed to find some photos from food reviews ;) I'll definitely try and post more of my own photos in time to come!

(This is from a blog that I really like
- I eat I shoot I post)

Premium platter of pre-BBQ-ed beef

So I'm pretty sure gyu means beef in japanese! Every time my family goes to Japan we HAVE TO eat gyu-don -> beef rice!! Wait a minute.....then doesn't that make wagyu beef.... wa-beef beef? Teehee. Oh well, hoping to visit Japan with T soon :) *fingers crossed* I'll keep you posted ;)

Freedom!

One day, a random movie scene popped into my head. You know that feeling when you know that you know something, but that knowledge just eludes your grasp no matter how hard you wrack your brain?? I am not exaggerating when I say that I struggled with all my might to remember which movie that scene belonged to!! Tried googling and asking my boyfriend, but till today I haven't been able to remember what movie it was :(

Ta-dah! That is my reason for starting this blog. I realize that I have a dire need to remember the things I do, because I absolutely hate the feeling of looking back on my life and trying to remember what I did on a random day and drawing a blank!!

More specifically, this blog is dedicated to T, my boyfriend of 4 years+ :) sometimes I think it is incredible that we spend soooo much time together but honest to God, there's never been a boring moment!! So this blog is going to focus mainly on documenting what we do together, so that hopefully in a few years' time I can look back and actually have something instead of blankness to reminisce about!! Hahaha.

I also hope that through documenting my experiences with T, our story can serve as inspiration for couples and hope for singles, because I give you my word that the love you (will) feel, can really be as wonderful as what you want it to be.

For the sake of privacy, I'd like to preserve my anonymity until I am comfortable enough to reveal more about myself. Sadly, this means there will be a lack of photos of us but I promise I'll try to be as interesting as possible with my words and poorly-taken photos of other random things!! Hahahaha.

So for now, you can know me as C :)

Stay tuned for more updates! I'll try not to disappoint ;)